Today is deviantART‘s 8th birthday! For today and tomorrow all sorts of crazy festivities will be happening across the site. What better time to join than now?

Even if you’re not an artist, you can certainly join as an art appreciator. There is some really fantastic art on dA, and variety to please anyone. The community is stellar as well. The forums and chats are full of people, as would be expected with over 8 million deviants!

If you are an artist, there are great opportunities on dA to grow and learn and become better at what you do. And really, who doesn’t want that?

Translators for the army, specifically for Arabic, Kurdish, Dari, Pashtu, and Farsi are being paid COLOSSAL amounts of money to continue working with the army. “…which would mean paying those linguists as much as $150,000 each to stay in the service.” It also mentions a 10 month immersion program for the language and culture, which they’re asking for volunteers for. They have more than 600 of these linguists, and they need more. They’re raising the recruitment number from 242 to 275 for next year.

$150,000. And that’s not counting their government salaries and pensions, as well. Holy shit. If I ever needed incentive to learn those languages, there it is.

Emotional Stability Chart Just kind of a cool little chart, really. I think we all have a little bit of all four groups in us.

Sand Mandala My Global teacher this past year taught us about Buddhist sand mandalas. The Buddhist monks lay out the sand by hand in amazingly intricate patterns. Then they destroy them. It’s an amazing practice, really.

Ize sorry I endanjured u. I seriously spent forever just looking at this and “aww”-ing. Partially because it’s so fucking adorable it makes you want to look at it for the rest of your life. Partially because HOLY FUCKING SHIT I WANT TO HUG A PANDA.

Technoviking No one can ever possibly hope to be a fraction as awesome as the Technoviking. Seriously. Don’t even try. You’ll just end up hurting yourself.

Underwater City Am I the only person who seriously thinks this needs to be built? Like, now? Seriously?

Catbus Someone made a real Catbus, inspired by the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Whoever made this, I love you forever.

Rock, Paper, Scissors 25 This is not your grandmother’s game of rock, paper, scissors. This is rock, paper, scissors taken to a WHOLE NOTHER LEVEL.

French Military Victories I am sorry, France. I know you have had your shining moments in history. Any country that can completely school America in the art of revolution (you got it right, we fucked it up) has my respect.

50 Ways to Help the Planet These are all simple and quick ways to help out the environment. Don’t believe in global warming? So what? Try some of it anyways. The environment really isn’t something we should be fucking up.

Hidden Pictures This picture is not only beautiful, but it’s wonderfully detailed and it’s fun to try and find all the hidden images!

The 10 Most Terrifyingly Inspirational 80s Songs Let the record show that I love every song on this list. But when they said that The Final Countdown’s “colonizing Venus” theme is ridiculous? I blank-stared the computer for like 15 minutes. That’s what makes the song fucking amazing, bitches.

Politics Explained This is all well and good, but I have an even better explanation for politics. The Latin root “poli-” means “many” and the term “tics” refers to “small blood-sucking creatures.” It is the truth.

That’s how I roll, motherfucker. Personally? I’d be more intimidated by the dude with the bow tie and pipe than the “zomg hardcore” teenage asshole. English majors are some scary shit. Have you ever been insulted by a Shakespearean expert? You don’t want to be. Shakespeare knew how to piss people off.

More evidence of the badassery of writers, English majors, and the like:

I will be relentless. I will be ruthless. I will be strong. I will be unstoppable. Not because it is the option I choose, but because there is no other option.

I am of the Romantic Underground, and we cannot be stopped, because we do not acknowledge the rules of those who wish to stop us. They have no power, no authority, no influence which we do not wish them to have.

We are of a lineage that includes more than writers and artists accustomed to being beaten down, marginalized, and humiliated. We are of the lineage of Ozymandias and Alexander, and we will take everything that can be hurled at us, shrug it off, move ahead, and claim the territory that belongs to those willing to pay the price to claim it.

We’re not IN publishing. We’re at war. And I don’t intend to lose.”

-James A. Owen

“I try to create sympathy for my characters, then turn the monsters loose.”
-Stephen King

“In a thousand words I can have the Lord’s Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, the Hippocratic Oath, a sonnet by Shakespeare, the Preamble to the Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and almost all of the Boy Scout Oath. Now exactly what picture were you planning to trade for all that?”
-Roy H. Williams

Yeah, really. What picture would you trade for all that? Yes, I have had logical arguments be made against that statement. Do I really care? No.

Lughnasadh is one of the four biggest festivals of the old Irish calendar. Imbolc, Samhain, and Beltane being the others. But today is Lughnasadh, a holiday for honoring the ancient goddess Tailtiu. Since I don’t imagine too many people doing that nowadays, here’s some other things you can do to celebrate Lughnasadh:

-Bonfires and dancing

-Reuniting with family

-Go pick some blueberries or blackberries if you have any near you

-Listen to some Irish folk music (it’s actually very good, if you don’t think you’d like it – and this is coming from a metal head!)

My last few posts have been particularly philosophical. That sort of got me thinking. How much brilliant insight and thought is scattered throughout little-read blogs? Sure, you’d have to wade through a fair amount of trash to find out, but hell, maybe it’s worth a shot. Who knows what you’d find?

It’s the knowledge of the crowd out there. So much is available to learn, so many people are out there to meet, so many things are right there to be seen. And while experiencing it all through a computer screen might not be ideal, it is so much better than ignorance.